THDN 254: Modern & Postmodern Theater- seats available

Mon/Wed 10:00-11:15am, AAC 231

This discussion-based course examines dramatic literature and its theatrical performance from the explosion of “-isms” at the beginning of the twentieth century through the innovations heralding the beginning of the twenty-first. Modern societies and ways of thinking have undergone radical transformations during this period, as have dramatic and theatrical expression. We will explore this era of change through the close examination of approximately twenty plays, related critical readings, films of plays, class presentations, and lively discourse. The plays and theatrical movements studied in class will investigate questions of identity and representation, analyzing the construction of gender, class, race, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality on stage in the contexts of the cultural climates in which each work was created and, in many cases, revived for contemporary audiences.